Living Alone – A Social Experiment

I’m 23 years old and I’ve never lived alone; until now.

I am the youngest of three kids, the only daughter. The second youngest member of the family will turn 31 in July. Needless to say, I’ve been doted on a little. I live with my mom in Mumbai and my dad lives in Kuwait. One of my brothers is in Amrika and the other one with dad.

Before I share with you interesting things that I’m going learn over the next three weeks, I’d like to clarify: I’m not spoiled. I’m decisive, independent and all those adjectives that are the complete opposites of spoiled (fresh?).

And now, we can move on.

Anybody who knows anything about life in a crazy city like mine knows that everyone here has ‘arrangements’. We have a help (sometimes two or three. I’m still not completely sure of what a ‘top servant’ does), doodhwalla, kachrewalla, dhobi and the works.

See, we are not spoiled. We lead busy lives and have people who help us get by. I graduated from high school in 2007, from Kuwait, and moved back to my home-city immediately. Mom moved with me because she couldn’t possibly leave her 17-year-old to fend for herself. Of course, at that time, there was no need for me to settle down alone anywhere. We had a house in Mumbai, and I’d go to college there. No fuss.

As years have rolled by, we’ve built a pretty steady mechanism of things. We have our arrangements in place. I work now (read: I have not much of a life, really) and mom keeps herself busy with her friends and house-related errands. I am always some level of tired and so, I get home and almost immediately roll into bed.

About two years ago, my mom got bitten by the travel bug. She wanted to see at least one dot on the map every year. The parents have worked way too hard and deserved this decision. In 2010, they picked Europe. I was just out of college then and was going to start working soon.

One would think someone of that age could easily manage affairs for two short weeks without getting oneself killed, right? Not my mother. She had my brother fly down from Kuwait to keep me company. I threw a few tantrums because I really wanted to experience living alone, but gave up quickly because we both had such a blast.

Now I must remind you, I’m not spoiled. I am a responsible adult who has never set anything on fire (except that girl’s hair in high school, but that was an accident and SO long ago).

Anyhoo, I wanted to experience being absolutely by myself. Most of my friends from Kuwait had moved to various parts of the world and were doing it! They cooked their own food, washed clothes and cleaned their sorry-excuses-for apartments. I wanted to experience all of that and kept nagging my mother about it.

Cut to three months ago. Mom was talking about her trip to some-part-of-the-world this year. I may have watched America’s Next Top Model through the conversation but by the end of it, she had decided she wanted to make a trip to Kuwait before that visit.  

So here we are. My mother is in Kuwait at the moment, and I’m home alone.  

The following series of posts is dedicated to anyone who has lived alone or is going to.

Stay tuned for more about my social experiment!

Let the show begin

So what I’m really trying to say is:

     1) Be careful what you wish for.